Bijo to yajū Beauty and the BeastJapan
by Me Heart Gaara
Summary: Kiseki is a young ninja, but it's strange, b/c only men can become ninja.  When her father goes missing, Kiseki goes up the mountain to find him, and ends up the prisoner of a Tengu who is under a curse.  Can the Tengu find love?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Long ago in Japan, there lived a powerful and extremely handsome tengu prince. He could take on the form of a human and sought out pleasure in many demon and human women alike. But the prince was spoiled, and hated all the women who only tried to please him because of his wealth and power. One rainy night, an old woman, who seemed to come from the fishing village at the bottom of his mountain knocked on his palace door. She had a deformed face and a balding head with wisps of gray hair covering her ears. She smelled of rotten fish and kelp and her hands were callused and leathery from working. She asked the tengu prince for shelter from the rain, but he turned her away, obviously disgusted with her appearance. She then offered a cutting of a cherry tree to the prince as payment. Again the tengu turned her away with a blast of ice cold wind in her face. The old woman warned him not to be deceived by outward appearances, but the tengu didn't listen and slammed the door. Then a blast of warm light filled the palace and in the place of the old woman was a beautiful lady in a white kimono covered in designs of cherry blossoms. The rain turned into falling cherry petals that matched the lady's pale pink lips. She spoke with a sing-song voice to the now apologizing prince.

"You have no love in your heart. If you cannot love, you should not live."

"PLEASE! I'll do anything, just don't kill me." The prince begged the great lady. Even though he was a powerful daitengu, he knew he was no match for this lady.

"If you are willing to do anything, I will give you one chance. You must find a young lady to love, and she must love you in return, but you will no longer have your human form." With a snap of her long white fingers, the prince was transformed into his tengu counterpart, a hideous long-nosed goblin. He grew until he was 10 feet tall and two black wings grew out of his back. His eyes became red and his hands grew into claws. "I am also sealing your powers in a powerful barrier around your palace. You will only have half of your power within this barrier. You may only leave the palace grounds four times a year and if you leave, your power will be reduced to one fourth it's normal amount. Your servants will also be stripped of all their power and are not allowed to leave the palace grounds. It's your fault." The lady took the cherry blossom cutting and placed it in the courtyard in the west wing of the palace. It grew into a small tree covered in cherry blossoms. "You have ten years, Tengu. Each month, a cherry blossom will fall from the tree. If the last one falls before you found someone to love, you will be stripped of all your power and be forced to live here, imprisoned for the rest of your hateful life." With that last sentence, the cherry blossoms swirled around the great lady and she disappeared.

Nine years passed, and the tengu prince, began to lose hope, for no one could ever love someone as ugly as he.


	2. Chapter 1: Beauty

**Chapter 1**

**Beauty**

In Japan, there lived a beautiful girl named Kiseki. She was the daughter of the leader of her village, Kaito. Her village trained the young men Nindo, or ninja way. Kiseki was different than other women in her village. Instead of cleaning and cooking and only speaking when spoken to, she learned how to be a ninja, had a horrible temper and liked to run around and play with the boys. The boys she played with thought she was strange, the women thought she was strange and even her three younger brothers thought she was strange. But, even though they thought she was odd, they all believed her to be beautiful. She had long black hair that she pulled up into a side ponytail, sparkling brown eyes, and a figure that most women envy. She was the most beautiful girl in the entire village, and the people said that she must have been blessed by Kami, God.

On a bright day in autumn, Kiseki was walking through her village towards the training grounds. She wasn't very good at fighting, but she was the fastest in her village. As she turned a corner, a hand grabbed her arm and spun her around so that she was looking into Kaoru's eyes. Kaoru was the best ninja in the village, and the best looking. He was liked by all the young eligible girls in the village, but he only had eyes for Kiseki.

"Hello my love, how are you this morning?" Kiseki tried to wriggle free from Kaoru's grip, but since Kaoru was obviously stronger, she gave up and started to glare at him instead.

"I **was** fine, but I'm feeling sick after seeing something horrendous," Kiseki smirked at Kaoru after he realized that she was talking about him. She stepped on his foot and was finally let go. She turned around to stick her tongue out at Kaoru. Kaoru made a grab for her but she dodged and began to run, full speed ahead. When she got to the outer wall of the village, she jumped up to the top of the wall and sat there. "Why can't that baka just leave me alone?" Kiseki asked herself as she looked up the mountain. "All he sees me as is a beautiful trophy." A sudden burst of rage burst from Kiseki as she stood up and yelled to the mountain, "HE'S A BAAKA!" Kiseki stopped abruptly and turned her head around slowly to see an older woman standing below looking at her strangely. (Kiseki get's an anime tear drop) "Oh, hello oba-sama." The old woman quickly walked away and Kiseki sighed. When was she going to stop getting all of these weird glances. Kiseki sat there for a while longer. When she was about to leave, her father landed next to her on the wall. "Otou-sama…" Kiseki stood up to face her father.

"Kiseki, I have to go into the mountains to search for the team of six that I sent up there a week ago. Some of the villagers are getting worried, saying they've been seeing lightning up there for a while, but it isn't storm season. If I'm not back in four days, send your brothers to look for me.I need you to care for your brothers, cook for them, clean for them. " Kiseki grimaced at the thought of cleaning up after her brothers, and cooking for them. Thankfully, she had an agreement with her brothers, her youngest brother, Rai, loved cooking and was so much better than she was. He cooked, she took the credit, and he got to keep his manly image.

"Wait…Otou-sama?" Kiseki grabbed onto her father's sleeve. "You'll definitely come back home, right?" Every time her father went out on a mission, Kiseki always asked him this. He smiled and looked at his daughter, that reminded him so much of his deceased wife.

"I definitely will come home." The leader of the ninja village kissed his only daughter on the forehead and then took off. Kiseki let out a long sigh and began to run to the training grounds. Because she was so fast, she usually defeated her opponent, but if she was asked to keep her speed to a minimum, she always lost. When she got to the grounds, a long line of young men were waiting to fight with her, because they wanted to increase their speed too. Kiseki smiled and walked into the ring in the center of the training grounds and placed her hand up in the air.

"LET'S GO!" She yelled and the first competitor came at her, and she kicked his butt. She went through the entire line in three hours, and no one was able to beat her. On her way home, snow started to fall from the sky. It was a light snow that reminded her of her mother, Yuki. Kiseki stood in the snow just absorbing the feelings until the eldest of her younger brothers, Shuu, called her inside.

"Geez, if you stand out in the cold, you're going to get sick," Shuu said as he dried her hair off. Shuu had dark brown hair and was a lot taller than Kiseki, he treated her as if she were the younger one and often worried about her.

"Shuu…Otou-sama went up into the mountains, to look for the missing team…should I have gone with him?" Kiseki looked up into her brother's eyes. She trusted his judgment because he was always more mature than she was.

"No." Kiseki fell to the ground out of shock (kinda like in an anime).

"What's with the quick answer?" Kiseki growled at her younger brother. She was expecting some sort of encouragement.

"Well, if Otou-sama wanted you to go, he would have asked you. And if you went with him, who would 'cook' for us." Shuu smiled at his small joke, which gave Kiseki a happy feeling as she giggled. The two siblings ran into the kitchen to talk with Rai about what they wanted to eat. Later, Len, the middle brother came home and they all had a fun playing and eating with each other.

*4 days later*

"Otou-sama isn't home yet." Kiseki thought as she looked out of the window at the snow falling down. Kiseki then made up her mind. She was not going to send her brothers after him, she was going to go herself. She grabbed a sword and some supplies as she started towards the front door. She snuck out the front door into the snow filled world. As she made her way towards the mountain, a figure in black jumped in front of her. It was Shuu. "Shuu, what are you doing here?"

"I should be the one asking that, Kiseki." Shuu looked angry. He stood there with his arms crossed waiting for her to explain herself.

"Uh…I…I'm…I'm going to go look for Otou-sama!" Kiseki said as she stared back into her brother's eyes. Shuu seemed unsurprised, like he knew that was exactly what she was going to do.

"Well, you shouldn't forget your cloak." Shuu said as he placed a warm blue cloak over her shoulders. Kiseki was surprised, she thought that he would definitely stop her.

"Why?" Kiseki was so confused.

"You want to do this on your own, right? This would be your first time out of the village," Shuu smiled and patted her head. "Don't make me regret my decision. Bring Otou-sama home." Kiseki smiled back at her brother. Even if she was a year older than him, she found that she had a respect for him that she didn't have for any of her other brothers. She turned and began to run up the mountain, a new determination burning inside of her.

Kiseki looked around the barren forest, trying to find some clue as to where her father had gone. As she was about to turn around and search another area, something silver and sparkling caught her eye. She ran over to it; it was her father's sword. Looking around, she noticed a stone path. Her foggy breath came out slowly as she followed the path cautiously. Walking down the path, winter slowly started to melt away. Confused, Kiseki ran ahead only to be stopped by a huge palace. Closing her eyes to clear her mind of all of her fear, she took a step forward and snuck into the palace by a side door. She walked through corridor after corridor, until she came to a staircase that led to a cellar of some sort. Taking one step at a time, she soon came to a cold dungeon, where the smell of death brought winter into the stone walls.

*cough* Kiseki whirled around, only to see a man sitting in a prison cell. She ran over to it quickly, "Otou-sama!" Kiseki grabbed at her father's wounded hand.

"Kiseski? *cough cough* What are you doing here?" Her father questioned his only daughter.

"I came to save you! Who did this to you? Otou-sama!" Kiseki cried as she held her father's hand.

"No...Kiseki, you have to...you have to leave right now!" *cough cough* The leader coughed up some warm red blood as he shakily tried to push Kiseki away.

"Otou-sama! I won't leave here without you! Otou-sa..." Kiseki was pulled away and thrown against the stone wall by a strong hand. Kiseki rubbed the back of her head as she looked around the cold dark room for her attacker. "Who's there?"

"Kiseki, RUN! He's here!" Kaito screamed at his daughter, his eyes filled with fear that Kiseki didn't know he had. Kiseki ignored her father as her eyes darted around the prison. Just then a large hand grabbed for Kiseki, but using her speed, she dodged and landed in front of her father's cell. Raging at the thing that did this to her father, Kiseki drew her sword and ran at her opponent. But her opponent was just as fast, or even faster, than she was. While she lifted her sword over her head in an attempt to wound the mysterious attacker, it punched her in the stomach and was flung halfway across the room. Flinching at the pain, Kiseki stood up and knew that she could not defeat the thing that defeated her father.

"Who are you?" She asked as she hesitantly walked towards him.

"Who I am is none of your concern, human." A low voice filled with anger filled the empty room. Kiseki closed her eyes for a second, deciding right there and then what she had to do.

"Let my father go! Please! He's wounded and sick! If you need a prisoner..." Kiseki met her father's eyes as he shook his head, "take me instead!" The attacker caught his breath in surprise.

"You would, take his place?" He seemed confused.

"NO KISEKI DON'T! IT'S MY TIME, NOW RUN!"

"Shut UP!" Kiseki yelled at her father. "You don't understand at all! You have to go back! The village needs you. Don't make me regret my decision, Otou-sama." Kiseki breathed heavily in anger. She looked back at her opponent, "Do we have a deal?" Her opponent stepped forward into the moonlight. He was enormous, he was almost touching the top of the ten foot ceiling. He had white hair, a long nose and red eyes. "Tengu..." Kiseki whispered to herself in awe and fear.

"We do." The tengu waved his arms and the prison cell opened and Kaito was flung out by an unseen force. "Take this man down the mountain," the tengu ordered someone unseen. Kaito started to be carried out of the place.

Kaito was screaming, "NO! Kiseki, don't do this! KISEKI!"

"OTOU-SAMA! Wait!" Kiseki yelled after her father, but he was gone. Kiseki sunk to the ground, tears rolling down her cheeks. Sniffing, she wiped her tears away, but more just kept coming. She pulled her knees to her chest and cried for the first time since her mother died.


	3. Chapter 2: Prison or Home?

**Chapter 2**

**Prison or Home?**

"Master, perhaps we should give the young lady one of the extra rooms?" A small Aosaginohi asked the tengu. Tengu glared down at the small blue heron, then nodded.

"I guess that would be most appropriate; prepare a room at once, Aosaginohi."

"At once, Master." Aosaginohi flew away and Tengu turned to look at the crying girl in front of him. She was beautiful, but her crying face made her look pathetic.

"Pft, Come, girl." Kiseki looked up in surprise.

"What? Where are you going to take me?" Her brown eyes looked straight into his. Tengu tore away from her gaze and called for Aoandon to light the way through the maze of halls in his palace.

"Just follow me...and stop crying, it's annoying." Kiseki frowned as she stood up and wiped her eyes.

"I just lost my father, and I didn't even get to say goodbye..." Kiseki said as she followed Tengu and the light of the blue lantern. "Stupid Tengu," she muttered. Tengu whirled around, his eyes glowing red as he growled.

"STUPID! I am a Daitengu! I have lived for many years and am powerful enough to control everything! You DARE call **me **stupid?" Tengu yelled at Kiseki. She cringed and shook violently, she was so scared. Tengu stomped off and stopped in front of a room. He slid the rice-paper door open roughly and pointed inside. "This is your room!" Kiseki looked at him with a blank stare. "Well, get in there!" Kiseki moved forward and slid into the room trying to stay as far away from Tengu as possible. "You can go anywhere in the palace you like, except for the west wing. Also, don't go past the lamps outside. GOOD-NIGHT!" Tengu slammed the door behind him and stalked off. Kiseki stood in the little room on the tatami mats. A tear fell from her cheek and she broke down crying again.

"Otou-sama, Rai, Len,...Shuu. Sayonara." Kiseki cried herself to sleep.

"Oh, the poor dear. She'll catch a cold if she sleeps like that," Haru-san, a mujina, said as she crawled into her room. Haru-san placed a blanket on Kiseki and brushed the hair out of Kiseki's face with one of her paws. "She's a real beauty...maybe she's the one. Oh I hope so." Haru-san smiled as she left the room. She closed the door quietly behind her and crawled down the hallway towards the servants' quarters.

"Oi, Haru-san, don't get your hopes up, she seems like a brat." Kin, a satori told Haru-san as she passed him in the hallways.

"Kin, please stay out of my head," Haru-san said politely as she shook her head disapprovingly.

"Well, don't come crying to me when she kills the master when the last blossom falls, cause I'll just say 'I told you so'," Kin smirked at Haru-san.

"You disgust me," Haru-san walked away towards the kitchens.

*the next day*

Kiseki woke up feeling groggy still from her cry. She looked at the blanket on her and looked around to see if there were any traces of who left it. She held it and smiled softly. Getting up, she poked her head outside. She saw no one, so walked down the long hallway. While walking she bumped into something on the ground and tripped over it.

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry. Are you okay, child?" A kind and motherly voice asked as Kiseki picked herself up.

"Yeah I think so, I'm sor..." Kiseki stopped when she saw who she was talking to. Backing up into a wall and hitting her head, Kiseki winced, "I'm talking to a badger...a badger!"

"Ohohoho, dear, I'm not a badger, well I guess I am, but I'm not just a badger, I'm a mujina. Now dear, stand up and maybe we can get you something hot to eat. Oh, you can call me Haru-san." Kiseki watched Haru-san walk down the hall, before finally getting up and following, still a little shaken from her encounter. At the end of the hall Haru-san opened a door and motioned for Kiseki to go in. Kiseki entered a dining hall with a long beautiful table and paintings on every wall. "Sit down dear, I'll get you something to eat."

"Um..." Kiseki reached out.

"Yes, dear?" Haru-san smiled warmly at Kiseki. All the tension in Kiseki's body lifted when she realized that she had nothing to be scared of.

"Arigatou, Haru-san." Kiseki smiled and a funny looking cat came out of nowhere and proclaimed,

"OH MY GOSH! SHE'S GORGEOUS!" The cat ran up to Kiseki and she flinched away out of surprise. "I heard there was a beautiful girl in the palace, but I never imagined she was this pretty! Woohoo! We're saved! Hey every body, we're saved!" He ran out of the room yelling and Kiseki and Haru-san looked shocked (anime teardrops too).

"I'm sorry about Yoshi, he gets excited easily," seeing Kiseki's curious expression, she added, "He's a bake-neko, dear, ah...What should we call you, dear?" Haru-san smiled as a couple of yosei flew in with a bowl of beef udon. Kiseki followed the yosei with awe-struck eyes before answering.

"Oh...oh! My name is Kiseki." She smiled again and a chorus of "ahh"s was heard at the door. There were about ten little demons all looking in through a crack in the door.

"Goodness gracious, don't the lot of you have any manners? Now get back to work."

"Oh, no. It's ok." Kiseki giggled and motioned for them to come in. They all ran in and gathered around Kiseki asking her questions and playing with her hair while the smaller ones climbed up her arms. Kiseki laughed, "stop, it tickles hahaha." They all sat in front of her with wide, curious eyes. They reminded Kiseki of children and she smiled at them, even though none looked human. Her eyes caught movement near the door and she saw an ape-like creature standing with his arms crossed and a foul expression on his face. "What's your name?" Kiseki smiled and held out her hand to him. He humphed and stomped off.

"Please ignore Kin, he does not like strangers," Haru-san told Kiseki. "Now then, everyone! Let's let Kiseki-sama eat." They all said bye and Haru-san bowed before she left. Kiseki smiled and looked at the food in front of her. She picked up the chopsticks near the bowl and began to eat slowly. It was delicious! She ate it all up and then decided she was going to explore the palace. When she opened the door, a blue heron flew in.

"Hello, Kiseki-sama. My name is Aosaginohi. Is there anything I can do to make your stay here more comfortable?" Kiseki, surprised at first, but now getting kind of used to the strange things, told him her plan to explore. "Then, would you like it if I escorted you around the palace?"

"Would you? I don't want to be any trouble." Kiseki exclaimed as the heron flew up and motioned with his head for her to walk out of the room.

"It would be no trouble at all Kiseki-sama." Aosaginohi led her down a hall and told her all about the history of all the artifacts found in different rooms. He even brought her to the weapons room and the library. During the tour, Kiseki saw a long dark hallway and turned down it. Aosaginohi seeing her turn, squawked and flew in front of her. "This...this is not part of the tour...nothing to see in the west wing, Kiseki-sama, let's continue down this way, maybe to the kimono room, or...or the Moon Garden, or..."

"The Moon Garden? What kind of garden is it?" Kiseki asked curiously. The only female attribute she had was a love for flowers and gardening. Aosaginohi seeing her interest, immediately began to lead her away from the west wing.

"Yes! The Moon Garden is a beautiful place filled with all kinds of flowers and..." He trailed off as Kiseki quietly slunk back towards the west wing. She walked down, taking her time so that she didn't make any noise. At the end, a torn sliding rice-paper door stood in between her and a small room. She slid it open slowly and slipped inside. Everything in the room was either destroyed or in bad condition. Suddenly a light breeze blew the scent of cherry blossoms into the room. Kiseki turned and saw a small cherry blossom tree, with only 8 cherry blossoms on it.

"Strange, it's not cherry blossom season, and there's only a few cherry blossoms left." Kiseki thought as she walked towards the pink tree that seemed to be glowing. Kiseki circled the tree, observing it with curiosity and wonder. She reached up a hand to touch one of the blossoms. Before she could touch it, a loud roar was hear and a large gust of wind that cut Kiseki's arms and cheek came from the room. Tengu stood there enraged.

"HOW DARE YOU! GET OUT! GET OOOOOOUUUT!" He roared as the air crackled with electricity and rage. Kiseki, frightened, ran out of the room and towards her room where she grabbed her cloak and sword and ran towards the front door. Haru-san was walking with Aosaginohi when they saw Kiseki run past them and open the door.

"Kiseki-sama, where are you going?" Aosaginohi asked as he flew towards her. She turned towards them, revealing her cut cheek and tear-filled eyes.

"I can't stay here anymore, I'm sorry, thanks for everything," Kiseki ran out, leaving the door swinging and the two servants watching her go.


	4. Chapter 3: Kindness?

**Chapter 3**

**Kindness**

Kiseki ran through the forest, trying to find the path that led down the mountain. She ran fast and hard, but didn't stop even though she could not find the way down. After running for a time, she tripped, but couldn't bring herself to get up again. She jolted up when she heard a small growl behind her. Turning around, she saw an Onikuma, his mouth drooling as his glowing yellow eyes fixed on her.

"Delicious, smell of blood, delicious..." He spoke in a way that made him seem drunk on the scent of her blood. "Smells like flowers, immortal flowers...delicious..." Kiseki stood up and drew her sword. She was tired from running, but she didn't want to go down without a fight. "Give me blood!" The onikuma attacked but before Kiseki could lift a finger, an omukade attacked the demon bear from behind.

"The Immortal Flower is mine!" The omukade screeched as the onikuma tried to block the omukade's attacks. Kiseki, shaking her head in fear, turned around and ran away from the fighting demons. She didn't get ten feet away when a horde of demons appeared in front of her, all chanting, "immortal flower...immortal flower...come here" Kiseki screamed and tried to cut them down, but her fear made her sloppy and they blocked it easily. Just then, all the demons were blown away by a gust of wind. Tengu flew down and landed in front of Kiseki. The demons that were blown away, got up and the omukade cackled at Tengu, "You're weak, Tengu...where is your power...hehehehe?" Tengu ground his teeth together as he sent a small bolt of lightning at the omukade. She screeched as she went down but laughed again, "That tickled, Tengu, now hand over the Immortal Flower...or be destroyed!" She threw spikes at Tengu, that pierced his stomach. He bent over in pain, but glared at the demons that started coming closer. He grabbed Kiseki and took to the sky.

Blood oozed from his wound as he flew towards his palace. Another spike from the omukade flew through the air and pierced Tengu in his wing. He grunted in pain and began to fall from the sky. Kiseki screamed as they plummeted towards the palace grounds. Tengu flipped in a way so that Kiseki wouldn't get hurt when they made impact. They landed with a huge crash, right outside the barrier of the palace. Tengu grimaced as he tried to get up to get inside, but he couldn't move, he exhausted his power and was injured badly. Just then, all the demons started to come into view of the two escapees. Tengu mustered all his strength and flung Kiseki into the barrier and closed his eyes after he saw that she was safe.

"Tengu!" Kiseki ran towards him, but he opened his eyes and glared at her.

"Don't come out of the barrier! Do you want to die!" He yelled at her. She stopped and looked at him, then at the horde of demons closing in on him. Putting on a determined face, Kiseki ran out of the barrier. "FOOL! I told you to stay..."

"Shut up, you stupid Tengu!" Kiseki screamed at him as she grabbed his giant hand and started to pull him towards the barrier. "He's so heavy!" She thought as she put all her might into pulling him into the barrier. All the demons closed in as Kiseki pulled him towards the palace. "Just a little farther!" She screamed as she pulled him inside the barrier. Kiseki collapsed beside Tengu as the demons ran into the barrier. She sighed as she looked at Tengu. His breathing was heavy and he was bleeding a lot. Haru-san and Aosaginohi arrived next to them.

"He's lost a lot of blood, Aosaginohi!" Haru-san exclaimed as she examined his wound. Aosaginohi turned to Kiseki and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Kiseki-sama, you heard what those demons called you, right?" Kiseki looked from Aosaginohi to Haru-san, to Tengu.

"What...What's the Immortal Flower?" Kiseki asked. Aosaginohi flew beside her and began to tell the story about the immortal flower.

"The Immortal Flower is a human being who's nectar or blood, has the ability to heal any sickness or wounds. It also can increase a demon's power, but only for a limited amount of time, unless the flower is drained of all life blood. Kiseki-sama, we didn't realize you were the Immortal Flower until we saw your blood." Aosaginohi bowed before her. "Please, Kiseki-sama, please save Master." Kiseki pulled back in shock. She turned and looked at Haru-san who was wrapping Tengu's wounds; she shook her head from side to side as if to say that he couldn't heal by himself. Kiseki hugged herself and closed her eyes tightly thinking.

"If he dies, I can leave here, but those demons will catch me..." She looked up. "He saved me." She thought as she looked at his face.

"She won't save him." Kin came out of the palace with his usual scowl on his face. "She thinks that if he dies, she can leave this place easily." Kin stood in front of Kiseki and looked her straight in the eye. "At least that's what I believe she's thinking."

"What do you mean, Kin? You can't read her mind?" Aosaginohi asked in surprise.

"Psh, it must come with being the Immortal Fruit." He frowned at Kiseki. She frowned back and grabbed her sword and went towards Tengu. "See, she's going to kill him." Kiseki lifted her sword up in the air.

"Kiseki-sama, NO!" Haru-san and Aosaginohi yelled as she brought the sword down. Instead of stabbing Tengu, she stabbed the ground near him, and cut her wrist on the blade. Kin, shocked started to move forward.

"You baka satori, I'm not the kind of person you think I am." She turned around and glared at Kin. She took her bleeding wrist and placed it near Tengu's lips. He started to drink it slowly at first, but then he grabbed her arm and started to suck her blood more forcefully. Kiseki flinched and tried to pull away, but he was too strong. "LET GO! PLEASE!" Kiseki pleaded with Tengu. He opened his eyes and caught hers. He let go immediately like he wasn't aware of what he was doing. Kiseki held her bleeding wrist in her hands as Tengu sat up, his wounds healed. "Thank goodness, you're ok...Ariga...tou..." Kiseki passed out from losing too much blood. Tengu caught her in his enormous hand before she hit the ground. He looked at his servants.

"She...she saved me? Why...why would she do that?" Tengu picked up the small girl and held her close. Haru-san smiled gently as she placed her paws on her master's arm.

"I'm sure she felt grateful to you for saving her," Haru-san said as she checked Tengu's wounds. "You're completely healed, make sure you thank her properly, Master," Haru-san ordered as she shooed Kin and Aosaginohi inside, leaving Kiseki and Tengu alone.

Tengu looked at Kiseki with wonder. He never thought that someone like her would do something so big for him. She saved his life, and she didn't have to. For the first time in his life, he felt like he had to protect someone. Tengu's normally scowling face slowly started to relax as he looked at Kiseki tenderly. He stood up and carried her to her room, where he placed her on a futon and gently placed a blanket over her.


End file.
